The annual gathering of Pharmacists in India was happening in Visakhapatnam, the City of Destiny, a very important port city in the newly formed state of Andhra pradesh. Located along the eastern coast of the Indian Peninsula, Vizag was always a city of interest for me. This annual gathering is a place for meeting a lot of people, a great opportunity to present research papers and a large gathering of pharmacists - a place where one feels proud of the profession. The gathering is usually very crowded, and I prefer going there only if I have a research paper presentation. My paper got selected for the presentation, and I decided to make it to the event.

Next came the time to book tickets. My colleagues were flying an early morning flight - I thought of taking a little later flight, and booked on RedKnight 1450 - AirAsia India, I5, 1450. This was also an early departure, but later than my colleagues' flight. This flight had a 0615…

I did not want to take a train to return from Gulbarga. I looked at all possible alternatives - there were hardly any AC options from Gulbarga - except the VRL Volvo, and an NEKRTC AC Sleeper. A friend suggesting traveling via Hyderabad - the run time appeared to be more or less similar, except the hurdle of having to change buses. I decided to book a train after I exhausted most options - I wanted a train that reached fairly early, so that I could head to office without much delay. After thinking and rethinking, I finally booked on the 22133 Solapur-Yeshwantpur Super Fast Express in AC 2-Tier. Luck didn't seem to approve my idea of keeping train the last option, and cursed me with a Side Upper berth - that too right next to the door! I kept pursuing the other options till a few days before the journey. It was on Sunday that I decided to stick to the train option itself.December 13, 2016:
I was done with the examination work by afternoon, and my host treated me to great north kar…

I had to go to Gulbarga, aka Kalaburagi, for an exam duty. I had a duty at Gulbarga last year, and I had taken a train then. The train was not an option this time due to some time restrictions. I looked at option, and found only two AC options - one was a Volvo seater by Vijayanand and another was AC Sleeper from NEKRTC. I didn't want to take the sleeper, and without another thought, booked a seat on the Vijayanand Volvo B9R. They gave a "pickup" option from Jayanagar as well, which was very convenient for me.December 12, 2016:
I left a little earlier from office - I had landed from Trivandrum just that morning, and hadn't gone home. I hurried with packing, and got ready by around 1830 or so. The pickup from Jayanagar 9th Block was at 1930hrs. After a quick dinner, I checked various cab operators, and finally got one on the Ola app. I received this message from VRL around the same time:Binai K Sankar, Your Journey Bus No. is KA 25/C7745 Boarding From : JAYANAGAR 9TH…

Getting back to Bangalore after the busfans meet at Pamba was getting hectic. The meet was on a Sunday and I had to be back in office on Monday, since I was traveling through the week, and I couldn't afford to miss a day's work. I looked at options to fly out of Kochi, but were prohibitively expensive. I decided to try flying out of Trivandrum, and was quite shocked to find flights at less than half the price of those flying out of Kochi. I initially thought of taking the red-eye Indigo out of Trivandrum, but the prospect of losing sleep, and the fact that I had more journeys that week made me rethink on that option. I kept procrastinating the booking for quite a few days, until I found that Air India offered me the cheapest rates for a Trivandrum - Bengaluru flight.

December 12, 2016:
I had reached Trivandrum the previous evening, and was put up at a state tourism run hotel near the Central Railway Station. Sadly, the property was in tatters, but luckily was undergoing a refi…

Any reason to travel is a good reason! The fact that I was traveling for a bus fans meet made me happier. This meet is an annual affair a group does - and I never managed to make it for it ever. It was a prestige issue for me this time, and I had to make it to it this time, no matter what. I had looked at various permutations and combinations to find a way of conveniently making it to the meet. The meet was being organised on a Sunday at Pamba - the base station of Sabarimala pilgrimage. The annual pilgrimage to Sabarimala happens every November-January - two full months of devotees, and hundreds of KSRTC buses to ferry them to various nearby railway stations to the base camp in Pamba, until where one can reach by motorways.

Getting to Pamba in time for the meet wasn't easy, given that buses from Bangalore to Pathanamthitta reach there quite late. I had to look at other options. I worked around a lot of options, including going via Madurai, Kumily (a little circuitous) before I f…